Amphibian trailer

ABSTRACT

A watercraft comprising a buoyant body, a propeller shaft, connecting means on said body for attaching a power unit to the body, drive means for drivably connecting a driven part of the power unit to the propeller shaft, and means for pivotally moving the propeller shaft from a raised position above the lower part of the body to a lowered position below the water line.

United States Patent 72] Inventor Donald Wilfred SessionsAngmering-on-Sea, England [21 App]. No. 840,285 [22] Filed July 9, 1969[45] Patented Dec. 14, 1971 [73] Assignee Forward ideas Limited [54]AMPHIBIAN TRAILER 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 115/1, 1 15/05 A [51] int. Cl B601 3/00 [50] Field 01 Searchl15/0.5 A, 41, 1; 114/61; 9/1 TR [56] Relerences Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 1,538,802 5/1925 Harley 115/41 2,365,830 12/1944 Miller 1 l5/O.5

3,332,388 7/1967 Moraski .r i l5/O.5

3,446,175 5/1969 Boehler et al 1 15/1 R FOREIGN PATENTS 1,185,518 3/1970Great Britain 1 l5/O.5 A

Primary Examiner-Andrew H. Farrell Attorney-Philip Mitches Patented Dec.14, 1971 3,626,891

3 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 7.

Patented Dec. 14, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 AMPHIBIAN TRAILER This inventionrelates to watercraft and its main object is to provide a watercraftwhich can be used to convert a power unit of known available type to apower connecting watercraft.

According to the invention a watercraft comprises a buoyant body, apropeller shaft, connecting means on said body for attaching a powerunit to the body, drive means for drivably connecting a driven part ofthe power unit to the propeller shaft, and means for pivotally movingthe propeller shaft from a raised position above the lower part of thebody to a lowered position below the water line.

The power unit may be a tractor, cultivator, grass mower or snowmobilewhich are usually provided with power units, transmissions, steering,controls, take off drives and operators seats. Thus for example asnowmobile which is generally used only for a month or two during thewinter may be converted by the present invention for use as a powerdriven watercraft for use at any time of the year.

The invention will be further described by way of example with referenceto the accompanying diagrammatic drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a watercraft made in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation thereof with one buoyant part removed and asnowmobile shown attached thereto;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the parts shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a trailer wheel and its supporting means;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation thereof;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a tow bar;

FIG. 7 is a plan view thereof; and

FIG. 8 is a half front view omitting minor details.

The watercraft comprises a buoyant body made up by two hollow floats 10,ll spaced apart to leave a space 12 between them and rigidly connectedtogether by Struts l5, l6, l7, 18 of inverted V-shaped section. Thefloats may be made of fiberglass or other suitable material.

The front strut carries two brackets 20, 21 which carry resilient blocks22, 23 for supporting the front part of a snowmobile 25.

The rear strut 18 carries an angle bar 26 to which the rear part of thesnowmobile can be bolted.

The body carries a transverse bar 27. Two plates 28, 29 are fixed to thebar 27 and strut 16 and a gear housing 30 is pivotally mounted on theplates 28, 29. The housing contains a right-angle rnitre gear. The frontends of the plates 28, 29 are adjustable up and down by screw 31 fortensioning a chain 32 which engages a sprocket 33 on the gear shaft 34,and a sprocket 23 on the snowmobile drive shaft 36.

A propeller shaft 40 carries a propeller 41 at its rear end and islocated in a torque tube 42 which is fixed at its front end to the gearhousing 30. The tube 42 is slidably supported near its rear end in abearing 44 that is pivotally carried by a bracket 45 the upper end ofwhich is fixed to a spindle 46 that is pivotally supported in brackets48, 49 on the strut 17. One end of the spindle 46 carries a handle 50.The torque tube 24 also carries propeller shaft bearings 51 rudder 52and support fin 53. The propeller shaft can be moved by the handle 50 tobring the propeller and adjacent parts to the lowered operating positionshown below the water line or to a raised position above the lower partof the buoyant body floats and can be locked in raised position.

In order that the watercraft can be transported on land it is preferablyprovided with trailer wheels 55. These are omitted from FIG. 1. Eachwheel 55 has a stub shaft 56 mounted in one end of a telescopic shockabsorber 58, the other end of which carries a spigot 59. The spigot 59enters the socket ends of the strut 16. The shock absorber 58 carries anarm 60 the outer end of which can be fixed to a bracket 61 on the floatin the road engaging position of the wheel. The arm 60 can be detachedfrom bracket 61 and swung up and over to lie forwardly on the strut 15with the wheel 50 raised above the water line. When lowering the wheelthe arm 60 provides a leverage for lifting the load prior to finallysecuring the arm 60 to the bracket 61.

The rudder 52 and fin 53 can be actuated by the steering gear of thesnowmobile by means of a cable (not shown).

A towbar 64 has a connector 65 at one end for attachment to a motorvehicle and has holes 66, 67 at the other end to engage hooks 68, 69 onbrackets fixed to the strut 17.

The trailer is attached to the floats by adjustable links 70, 71.

To prepare the conventional snowmobile for marine conversion it is onlynecessary to remove the snow ground propelling equipment comprising thesnow track belt, rear idler track sprocket shaft and bearings, trackbogey wheels and the two front-mounted skis. These components are easilyreplaced when reconversion to snow conditions is required.

What we claim is:

l. A watercraft comprising a buoyant body of two hollow bodies spacedapart and connected together by struts, a propeller shaft located in aspace between the two buoyant parts of said body, connecting means onsaid body for attaining a power unit to the body, drive means drivablyconnecting a driven part of the power unit to the propeller shaft, saiddrive means including a gearbox pivotally mounted on the body and havinga propeller shaft torque tube fixed at one end to said gearbox andslidable near its other end in a bearing carried by a pivoted supportbracket, and means for pivotally moving the propeller shaft from araised position above the lower part of the body to a lower positionbelow the water line.

2. The watercraft of claim 1 having front supporting means on said bodyfor supporting a snowmobile and rear support means for attachment tosaid snowmobile, whereby the snowmobile can be located with its driveshaft directly above drive means.

3. The watercraft of claim 2 having means on said body for supportingtrailer wheels and means for moving said wheels from road engagingpositions to inoperative positions.

4. The watercraft of claim 3 wherein each of the trailer wheel axles iscarried by one end of a telescopic shock absorber, the other end ofwhich carries a spigot arm located in the socket on said body, and afixing arm is attached to said shock absorber, and said body carriesmeans for fixing the said arm in the road engaging position of thewheel, said arm being movable up and over to a forward position forraising the wheel.

i I! I i i

1. A watercraft comprising a buoyant body of two hollow bodies spacedapart and connected together by struts, a propeller shaft located in aspace between the two buoyant parts of said body, connecting means onsaid body for attaining a power unit to the body, drive means drivablyconnecting a driven part of the power unit to the propeller shaft, saiddrive means including a gearbox pivotally mounted on the body and havinga propeller shaft torque tube fixed at one end to said gearbox andslidable near its other end in a bearing carried by a pivoted supportbracket, and means for pivotally moving the propeller shaft from araised position above the lower part of the body to a lower positionbelow the water line.
 2. The watercraft of claim 1 having frontsupporting means on said body for supporting a snowmobile and rearsupport means for attachment to said snowmobile, whereby the snowmobilecan be located with its drive shaft directly above drive means.
 3. Thewatercraft of claim 2 having means on said body for supporting trailerwheels and means for moving said wheels from road engaging positions toinoperative positions.
 4. The watercraft of claim 3 wherein each of thetrailer wheel axles is carried by one end of a telescopic shockabsorber, the other end of which carries a spigot arm located in thesocket on said body, and a fixing arm is attached to said shockabsorber, and said body carries means for fixing the said arm in theroad engaging position of the wheel, said arm being movable up and overto a forward position for raising the wheel.